The Work of Byron Katie is a process for identifying and questioning the thoughts that cause stress and suffering. It consists of four questions and a turnaround — which is a way of experiencing the opposite of what you believe. Anyone with an open mind can do The Work (children are really good at it). Once you have done The Work for a while, you may begin to see that it’s not the people or events in your life that cause you to suffer; it is your thoughts about them that cause the suffering. The Work was discovered by a woman named Byron Kathleen Reid, an ordinary woman who had lived for years in a debilitating depression. One morning in 1986, Katie woke up to find that her world had completely transformed: her rage and despair were simply gone and she was completely at peace. She had stopped believing her thoughts. She discovered that when she believed them she suffered, and when she questioned them the suffering stopped. The process called Inquiry had come alive within her, and over time it coalesced into the four questions presented below. Today, thousands of people around the world are finding their own peace and clarity of mind by honestly answering these questions about their stressful thoughts and beliefs. 1. First:  Identify (and write down) a stressful thought to question. A simple way to do this is to think of a person you haven’t forgiven 100%. What do you think of them? What advice would you give them? The basic tool for identifying stressful thoughts is the Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet. (Download this from www.thework.com.) 2. Next, take one of the statements on your worksheet — for example, “He doesn’t care about me.” Inquire using the four questions:          1. Is it true?          2. Can you absolutely know that it’s true?          3. How do you react when you believe that thought?          4. Who would you be without that thought? Take your time and allow your answers to arise from within. The Work isn’t about changing your thoughts; it’s about being open to a deeper truth. Write out your answers as a meditation. The One-Belief-at-a-Time-Worksheet is designed for this purpose. (Download this from www.thework.com) 3. Now turn the thought around. Take your original thought and find an opposite. For example, “He doesn’t care about me” can be turned around to:    “He does care about me.”    “I don’t care about me.”    “I don’t care about him.” In your experience, could these turnarounds be as true as, or truer than, your original statement? Find concrete, genuine examples of how each could be as true. The turnarounds give you the opportunity to experience aspects of the situation you may have overlooked. There are many different ways to experience The Work for yourself. Here are a few: I invite you to call me for a complementary 30-minute session. I will walk you through the four questions and the turnaround, and hold the space for you as you find your own answers. Follow the detailed step-by-step instructions for doing The Work on your own at www.thework.com. All the resources you need are available there. Go to www.thework.com and click on "The Work In Action" to see videos clips of Katie doing The Work with people on a variety of topics. More videos are available on youtube. Call the Do The Work Helpline at www.thework.com to do The Work with an experienced volunteer facilitator. Read Loving What Is, the basic text for The Work of Byron Katie. (You can download excerpts from this book at www.thework.com.) Contact a Certified Facilitator of The Work. There are over 100 of these around the world. You may read our profiles at www.thework.com. Attend an event with Katie or a Certified Facilitator. These events are listed at www.thework.com.